System and Method for Providing Electronic Multi-Merchant Gift Registry Services Over a Distributed Network

1. A method of providing a gift registry service over a distributed network of computers, the method comprising the following steps: a. running a gift registrar application on at least one gift registry site; b. running a gift registration agent application on at least one goods or services provider (SP) site; c. a gift registrant accessing the at least one SP site and making a gift selection from the at least one SP site; d. the gift registration agent application sending the gift selection to the gift registrar application, the gift registrar application storing the gift selection as an update to a wish list in a wish list data memory structure accessible to the at least one gift registry site; and e. a gift purchaser accessing the stored wish list from a site on the distributed network remote from any gift registry site.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising in step d the following steps: f. the gift registration agent application sending a unique SP identifier to the gift registrar application; and g. the gift registrar application associating the SP identifier with the updated gift selection in the wish list.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising: n. in step g, the gift registration agent application sending, with the gift registrant's gift selection, a unique SP identifier identifying the SP as the preferred SP from which the gift selection should be purchased; and o. the gift registrar application indicating to a gift purchaser, in step e, the associated preferred SP for each of the gift registrant's wish list items.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising in step e, the gift purchaser accessing a wish list by searching for one or more criteria.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the following steps, where step i occurs after step c and the timing and sequence of steps i-k are not dependent on steps d-e: i. the gift registrant creating and storing a distribution list, the distribution list being stored in a distribution list data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site; j. the gift registrant requesting that the gift registrar application send notifications to members of the distribution list; and k. the gift registrar application sending notifications to members of the distribution list.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, at any time after step c, the gift registrant registering an occasion and associating at least one wish list with the occasion, the occasion data and the association being stored in an occasion data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising, after the step of registering an occasion, the gift registrant creating a distribution list, the distribution list being stored in a distribution list data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site; and further associating the distribution list with an occasion and the association being stored in a data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, after the steps of associating the occasion with a distribution list and storing the association, the gift registrant specifying an occasion reminder for repeating notifications, the occasion reminder being stored in an occasion reminder data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, after the step of specifying the occasion reminder, associating a wish list to the occasion reminder, and storing the association in an occasion reminder data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising, after the step of specifying the occasion reminder, associating an SP site link in an occasion reminder, and storing the site link association in an occasion reminder data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising, after the step of specifying the occasion reminder, the gift registrant specifying at least one occasion trigger for notification of the members of the associated distribution list; and further the gift registrar application automatically sending the occasion reminder to each of the members of the distribution list upon the tripping of an occasion trigger.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising, at any time after step b, the gift registration agent application sending SP sale event data to the gift registry site, the data being stored in an SP sale event data memory structure accessible to the gift registry site.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising: l. the gift registrar application displaying the SP's sale event data to users accessing the gift registry site; and m. the gift registrar application generating a sale event notification.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein in step m, the notification contains pertinent wish list data.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein in step m, the notification contains one or more links to the SP site.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising, at any time after step c and independent of steps d-e, an SP sending the gift registry site a sale event query and the gift registrar application returning one or more notification lists.

17. A method of providing a gift registry service over a distributed network of computers, the method comprising the following steps: a. running a gift registrar application on at least one gift registry site; b. a gift registrant accessing a website of at least one goods or service provider (SP), and making a gift selection from the at least one SP site for inclusion into a gift registrant wish list; c. the gift registrar application receiving the gift selection from the at least one SP site and storing it as a wish list in a wish list data memory structure accessible to the at least one gift registry site; and d. a gift purchaser accessing the stored wish list from a site on the distributed network remote from any gift registry site.

18. A method of providing a gift registry service over a distributed network of computers, the method comprising the following steps: a. running a gift registrar application on at least one gift registry site; b. a gift registrant accessing websites of a plurality of goods or service providers (SP), and making a gift selection from each of the plurality of SP sites for inclusion into a gift registrant wish list; c. the gift registrar application receiving the gift selections from the plurality of SP sites and storing them as a wish list in a wish list data memory structure accessible to the at least one gift registry site; and d. a gift purchaser accessing the stored wish list from a site on the distributed network remote from any gift registry site.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising the following step: e. the gift registrar application indicating to the gift purchaser the most desirable SP for at least one item on the gift registrant's wish list.